A beloved farmers market near Waterloo, Ont., that was gutted by a fire in 2013 re-opened this week.

The new $5-million St. Jacobs Farmers' Market, which officially opened on Thursday, was built to look like the former two-storey, post-and-beam wood building.

The new building has a similar layout to its predecessor, but has an additional 930 square metres of space.

"The thing we heard from everybody … was, 'Don’t mess with the look and feel of the old building,'" said Marcus Shantz, the president of Mercedes Crop., which owns the market. "We really wanted to respect that."

Considered a popular destination for local residents and tourists, the original St. Jacobs Farmers' Market was levelled in an overnight fire on Labour Day 2013. Witnesses at the time said the historic building's roof caught fire within 30 minutes and then the structure collapsed.

"We saw five torches of light," Eilish Cashubec said in 2013. "I watched the whole thing burn down."

There were no injuries, but damage to the building was estimated at $2 million.

The former market building had a fire alarm system and officials were working to install sprinklers prior to the blaze. At the time the building was constructed, sprinklers and fire alarms weren't required by the provincial fire code.

In addition to the additional space, the new St. Jacobs Farmers' Market also has larger windows, an elevator and a sprinkler system.

With files from CTV Kitchener